Unlike humans, the common housefly cannot gain wisdom. It spends its short lifetime reacting mindlessly to whatever happens around it. If the weather is cool, it instinctively seeks a perch on a ceiling or in a sunny spot. If it smells some juicy, rotten food, it buzzes over to investigate. If it senses the shadow of a descending flyswatter, it tries to fly away. But it demonstrates no ability to gain wisdom from life’s experiences.  

God will not let us humans off so easily. He created us with the ability to learn, and He has instructed us to put that ability to work seeking knowledge and wisdom. But far too many people are like the housefly: they spend much idle time living for the moment, not thinking ahead. You see them with electronic earbuds sprouting from either side of their heads, or video game controllers glued to their hands, or their bodies buried in sofa cushions and their eyes riveted to television screens.  

Wasting time in pointless diversions is not God’s will for godly people. God commands us to hear the instructions of fathers or teachers. The learner should “attend (prick up the ears) to know understanding.”  

Years ago I attended a driver education class in a local public high school. One day as we sat waiting for the class to start, the door opened and a student shuffled in. “I don’t need this class; I already know how to drive,” he declared. “I just need the paper to prove it.” He later dropped out of the class.  

May we never carry the attitude of that student. When we are presented with the opportunity to learn, let us prick up our ears, lean forward in our seats, and drink it in.  

Prick up your ears and hear 
The teaching clear of a father dear.

From Paws on My Porch, by Gary Miller
© 2015 TGS International, PO Box 355, Berlin, Ohio 44610
Used by permission